Programmable circuit having multiple sectors

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods relating to a programmable circuit. The programmable circuit includes multiple sectors. Each sector includes configurable functional blocks, configurable routing wires, configuration bits for storing configurations for the functional blocks and routing wires, and local control circuitry for interfacing with the configuration bits to configure the sector. The programmable circuit may include global control circuitry for interfacing with the local control circuitry to configure the sector. Each sector may be independently operable and/or operable in parallel with other sectors. Operating the programmable circuit may include using the local control circuitry to interface with the configurations bit and configure the sector. Additionally, operating the programmable circuit may include using the global control circuitry to interface with respective local control circuitry and configure the sector.

FIELD

This disclosure relates to the internal organization for a programmablecircuit, such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA).

BACKGROUND

A programmable circuit, such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA),may realize a design using components whose behavior andinterconnections are configurable after manufacture. However, such acircuit may require numerous and possibly hidden support functions forconfiguration, test, clocking, and power. Additionally, as FPGAcomponent counts have grown, the area cost of these functions hasremained or grown, their bandwidth has fallen behind, and theircomplexity and rigidity have delayed schedules and reduced customerfeatures.

SUMMARY

This disclosure relates to a new internal organization for aprogrammable circuit, such as an FPGA, where the circuit is divided into“sectors,” each containing local resources for configuration, test,clocking, and power. A sector is a region of a programmable circuit,such as an FPGA, containing local resources for one or more ofconfiguration, test, clocking, and power. The programmable circuit mayhave multiple such sectors. The sectors may be identical or vary in sizeand resources. Each sector may include local resources, such asprocessors, state machines, and/or buses, which facilitatecommunications and operations during wafer test, package test,initialization, configuration, or other non-user functions. The localresources may be interconnected using additional global wiringcontrolled by a separate global controller. The sector boundaries mayanchor new clocking, power, data transmission, and other suitablefeatures. As such, sectors may operate on a shared clock or operate ontheir own independent clocks. Prior implementations have implementedsupport functions in a monolithic manner at the full-chip level.However, the decomposition of the support functions into smallercomponents simplifies their design and the new interconnections increasetheir bandwidth and flexibility. These attributes may help deliverhigher integration levels with reduced implementation complexity.

Accordingly, systems and methods relating to a programmable circuithaving sectors are described. In some aspects, the programmable circuitincludes multiple sectors. Each sector includes configurable functionalblocks, configurable routing wires, configuration bits for storingconfigurations for the functional blocks and routing wires, and localcontrol circuitry (or local controller) for interfacing with theconfiguration bits to configure the sector. In certain embodiments, theprogrammable circuit includes global control circuitry (or globalcontroller) for interfacing with the local control circuitry toconfigure the sector. In certain embodiments, each sector isindependently operable and/or operable in parallel with other sectors.

In some aspects, a method for operating the programmable circuit isdescribed. The method for operating the programmable circuit includesusing the local control circuitry to interface with the configurationbits and configure the sector. Additionally, the method for operatingthe programmable circuit includes using the global control circuitry tointerface with respective local control circuitry and configure thesector. The process may be performed by a processor of a programmablelogic device, for example, and may be encoded as instructions, on atransient or non-transient machine readable medium, that are executed bya processor.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other advantages of the invention will be apparent uponconsideration of the following detailed description, taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencecharacters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative floorplan for a programmable circuitaccording to certain embodiments;

FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative diagram of a Configuration RAM (CRAM)array according to certain embodiments;

FIG. 3 depicts an illustrative diagram of “hold-off” signals includedfor CRAM bits in a multiplexer according to certain embodiments;

FIG. 4 depicts an illustrative diagram of hardware for detecting andcorrecting single-event upsets (SEUs) according to certain embodiments;

FIG. 5 depicts an illustrative diagram of a programmable circuit dividedinto sectors according to certain embodiments;

FIG. 6 depicts an illustrative diagram of a sectorized programmablecircuit including a redundancy region according to certain embodiments;

FIG. 7 depicts an illustrative diagram of a sectorized programmablecircuit having increased external bandwidth according to certainembodiments;

FIG. 8 depicts an illustrative diagram of inter-sector communication ina sectorized programmable circuit according to certain embodiments;

FIG. 9 depicts an illustrative diagram of a sectorized programmablecircuit having a mesh-based network-on-chip (NoC) according to certainembodiments;

FIG. 10 depicts an illustrative diagram of a sector having circuitry fordetecting and correcting SEUs according to certain embodiments;

FIG. 11 depicts an illustrative diagram of a sectorized programmablecircuit having power controls according to certain embodiments;

FIG. 12 depicts a simplified block diagram of an illustrative systememploying an integrated circuit device incorporating aspects of thepresent disclosure according to certain embodiments;

FIG. 13 depicts an illustrative process by which a sectorizedprogrammable circuit is configured for operation according to certainembodiments; and

FIG. 14 depicts an illustrative process by which a local controller in asectorized programmable circuit detects and corrects SEUs according tocertain embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative floorplan 100 for a programmable circuit,such as an FPGA. Typical functional blocks in an FPGA may include one ormore of logic 102 (e.g., Look-Up Tables, D-Flip-Flops, or other suitablecomponents), memory and digital signal processing (DSP) blocks 104,internal memory blocks 106, phase locked loop (PLL) blocks 108,high-speed serial transceivers interconnect blocks 110-114, generalpurpose I/Os 116 (e.g., DDR memory interfaces or other suitablecomponents), clocking, and other suitable resources. The programmableinterconnect fabric for the programmable circuit may include a networkof routing wires and programmable switches which are configured by SRAMbits or other suitable means to implement routing connections betweenthe blocks. The programmable circuit may utilize “point-to-point”routing, where a path between a source signal generator and itsdestinations is fixed at compile time. In certain embodiments related topartial reconfiguration, the programmable circuit may utilize othersuitable means of routing to implement block-level replacements.

In order to specify its function, each functional block may beassociated with “Configuration RAM” bits, which together form aConfiguration RAM array 202, as depicted in FIG. 2. These bits maysupply constant values 204 to the logic which configures its functions.FIG. 2 also shows an additional piece of logic, the ConfigurationMachine including Data Register 206 and Address Register 208, which maybe used on power-up to accept a bitstream through a separate, dedicatedport and then write it to the Configuration RAM bits.

In certain embodiments, the functionality of the logic whose associatedCRAM bits are being written may be dynamically changing as the bitstreamis written to the CRAM array. Depending on the circuit-levelimplementations of the multiplexers and other logic, this dynamism mayresult in intermittent short circuits and other undesirable effects.Consequently, the configuration machine may generate various “hold-off”signals to force the configured logic to be quiescent until after allthe CRAM bits have been written. FIG. 3 depicts an illustrativeembodiment of such “hold-off” signals included in multiplexer 300 havinginputs 302 and output 310. This embodiment includes a “one-hot”implementation, where each switch 306 is directly and independentlycontrolled by an independent CRAM bit 304. The word line and bit linedrivers may include additional circuitry and control signals so they canall be forced to HIGH and LOW, respectively. This may force all CRAMbits to be zero and thus all branches in the multiplexer may be turnedoff, avoiding short circuits. In this condition, however, the point ofconvergence in multiplexer 300 may not be driven, and thus transistor308 may be added to drive this node HIGH. The local controllers maygenerate the signals internally that force the word and bit lines toHIGH as well as drive multiplexer 300 to HIGH.

In certain embodiments, a programmable circuit such as an FPGA may besusceptible to Single-Event Upsets (SEUs) during normal operation, justlike other digital logic. In other logic, these SEUs may unpredictablyalter a design's state, but with a programmable circuit, since thestructure of the design itself is stored in memory bits, an SEU may alsounpredictably alter the design and hence its function. For this reason,SEU mitigation is an important consideration for programmable circuits,such as FPGAs. To address this issue, background hardware may beenhanced to continually re-read the FPGA's configuration, use CRC and/orECC techniques to detect and correct SEUs in these bits, and then writeback the updates as needed. FIG. 4 depicts an illustrative embodiment ofsuch background hardware. Particularly, data register 400 may includescrub controller 408 and read latch 404 which receives bit lines 402.Scrubbing includes inspecting the sector for errors in stored data andcorrecting the errors using a previously stored copy of the data orother redundant information. CRC Computation block 406, CRC Register410, and Comparator block 412 may work in conjunction and use CRC and/orECC techniques to detect fault 414 and correct SEUs in these bits. Thesetechniques may be directed by scrub controller 408 and write backupdates to correct bits as needed.

In certain embodiments, a programmable circuit may include sectorizedconfiguration memory. FIG. 5 depicts an illustrative embodiment ofconfiguration memory 500 of an FPGA divided into four sectors 502. Eachsector may include the configuration RAM bits which specify the functionand/or interconnections of the subcomponents and wires in or crossingthat sector. Each sector may include bit lines 512 and word lines 514 atright angles to each other. These may be used to modify and read backthe configuration RAM contents. Word line drivers for the word lines andbit line drivers and sense amplifiers for the bit lines may be includedalong the edge of the sector. These may be accessed through adjacentshift registers 506, which reduce the possibly vast numbers of word andbit lines down to just a few clock lines 508 and data lines 510. Theregisters may be fully loaded and unloaded (read back) using just thesefew clock lines 508 and data lines 510. To control shift registers 506,each sector may include local controller 504. These controllers maymanipulate and observe clock lines 508 and data lines 510. Furthermore,local controllers 504 may be connected via a simple communicationnetwork to a global controller. The global controller may connect todevice pins through which it can communicate with the outside world. Theglobal controller may sit between these pins and the local controllers,sending commands to the local controllers as required and conveying databetween the controllers and the device pins.

In a non-sectorized FPGA, only the upper left “sector” would appear, andthe global controller and the single local controller would be combinedinto one single control block. Its word lines and bit lines would runacross the entire chip. A first advantage of the sectorized FPGA may bethat the word lines and bit lines are much shorter, and thus quicker inoperation and needing less power per bit accessed. Additionally, thesectorized local controllers may advantageously operate independentlyand in parallel. The global controller may accept commands and data at amuch higher rate, since it is responsible for far less globalcommunication; this may be sent to the local controllers in around-robin way, for example, with each of them operating at a lowerrate but in parallel. This parallelism may also contribute to thegreater operation speed and bandwidth of the sectorized FPGA duringconfiguration. Additionally, the inclusion of a local controller in eachsector may allow all previously independent wires to be replaced by aset of global wires. The activity that would have been on the previouslyindependent wires is now transactionalized and the local controller candecode these transactions and perform the appropriate local operation.Thus, the local controller may act as a decoder which can be used tovastly decrease the global wire count.

In addition to the word lines and bit lines that interface with theconfiguration bits, the local controllers may also control “hidden”mode-control and “hold-off” signals that, among other things, areresponsible for bringing the logic in a sector smoothly out ofconfiguration and into normal operation. The independence of the localcontrollers and of the sectors they control may offer other advantages.After power-on, it may take quite some time to get all the configurationdata into an FPGA, and this may delay the full intended functionality ofthe device. In some applications, some of the functionality is requiredto be present more quickly than the full functionality of the FPGA canbe configured. This mismatch may be remedied by configuring only onesector, or the minimal number of sectors required to supply the initialfunctionality, and then de-asserting the “hold-off”/freeze signals onlywhere this process is done so the initial functionality may startoperation. This “partial initial configuration” ability means at leastpart of the chip may start functioning more quickly.

Independent sectors may be used to more easily support partialreconfiguration. In certain embodiments, one or more sectors in analready fully configured part are selected for reconfiguration. Becauseof the independence of the sectors, the sectors being reconfigured mayreceive and store configuration data, while the other sectors mayoperate as before. This latter operation may include scrubbing tocorrect SEUs (i.e., inspecting the sector for errors in stored data andcorrecting the errors using a previously stored copy of the data orother redundant information), such that the reliable operation of theuntouched sectors may be assured while the sectors of interest arereconfigured. This mix could not be supported in an FPGA withoutindependent sectors.

Both partial initial configuration and partial reconfiguration arefeatures that have been offered in FPGAs. However, to date, theirimplementation has required special modes and extra functionality in theglobal controller (configuration machine), and the full investment inthis design effort to get it to work properly is seldom made.Furthermore, both these features require additional specialized softwaresupport whose completion to date has not been highly prioritized due touneven customer demand in reaction to the uneven hardware support. Witha sectorized FPGA, all configuration modes become identical: fullconfiguration, partial initial configuration, and partialreconfiguration all consist of configuring one or more sectors.Consequently, supporting all three approaches becomes easier andrequires less unique additional support.

A number of factors may affect the best size or sizes for the sectors. Asmaller sector may be assembled more rapidly with the containing arrayrequiring the same time for its own assembly. However, a larger sectormay more easily contain the desired ratio of FPGA component types, asdetermined by customer preferences, but this better match may be moredifficult to re-use for different ratios as needed by other devices inone FPGA product family. Additionally, sectors are not the only largeblocks in the top-level FPGA design. High-Speed Serial Interface (HSSI)packs, which include packs of high speed serial transceivers, andmultiple-conventional-I/O I/O blocks are other large blocks in thetop-level FPGA design. It may be advantageous for the chip assemblyprocess if HSSI packs, I/O blocks, and sectors all had the same height,as this “pitch-matching” may make the full chip easier to assemble fromthem. This arrangement may be advantageously extended to other largeblocks that may be included in the full chip, such as optionalprocessors and other suitable large blocks.

It may be recalled from FIG. 1 that FPGAs are conventionally assembledfrom rows of smaller blocks. Finally, when assembling these rows thatcontain smaller blocks, it may be advantageous to include “spare rows”in each group of rows so that if there is a defect in one particularrow, the portion of the design in that row and the rows below it may beslid down, newly filling the spare row at the bottom of the group. Sincesliding rows between sectors may present additional complexities, theheight of a sector (the number of such rows in it) may correspond to theheight of such a group of rows, called a “redundancy region.” Then in arow of sectors, if any subrow (row contained in one sector) were foundto contain a defect, all the corresponding subrows across the row ofsectors may be moved down inside the row of sectors. This arrangementmay support redundancy without adding inter-sector exceptions asillustrated in FIG. 6. As shown, programmable circuit 600 includessectors 602 and redundancy region 604. The height of sectors 602corresponds to the height of redundancy region 604.

In certain embodiments, the programmable circuit is structured such thatlocal controllers accept commands and data from the global controller,and write the data into the configuration memory using the appropriatesequencing of controlled signals, such as the word and bit lines. Also,in response to commands from the global controller, the localcontrollers may orchestrate the reading of the configuration memory andthen send the resulting data back to the global controller. In additionto these basic operations, the local controllers may be augmented withnumerous additional capabilities. For example, such capabilities mayinclude locally sequencing reads and writes to implement error detectionand correction on the configuration RAM array and sequencing testcontrol signals to effect various test modes.

In certain embodiments, the local controllers are implemented as statemachines. In certain embodiments, the local controllers are implementedas minimal processors. Each operation they support may be implemented asa separate routine in a memory containing a control program. In certainembodiments, this control program memory may be fixed in, e.g., aread-only memory (ROM). The ROM may be larger than strictly needed,allowing each routine to have multiple variants depending on “modes” thelocal controller may be placed into. In certain embodiments, the controlprogram memory is implemented as random access memory (RAM). This RAMmay be written with new routines in order to implement new operationsand functionality into the sectors. This may provide usableextensibility in an efficient and easily understood way. This may beuseful because new commands could bring about large amounts of localactivity within the sector at the expense of only a small amount ofcommunication between a global controller and local controller. Withoutthis extensibility, new functionality may need to be implemented interms of pre-existing operations (and most likely many of them). Thismay increase the needed amount of communication between the global andlocal processor and prevent fully parallel use of the local controllers.

Since the global controller is responsible for, among other things,coordinating the operations of the local controllers, for ensuring datagets between the outside world and the local controllers, and forsecurity features, the global controller (or at least a portion thereof)may be implemented in a processor as well. This may be a dedicatedprocessor, special boot-up code for a user-visible processor alreadyincluded in the device's design, or another suitable arrangement.

In certain embodiments, the local controllers provide an opportunity toincrease the bandwidth between the programmable circuit and the outsideworld during configuration and test operations, particularly duringwafer test. Before being shipped to customers, programmable circuits,such as FPGAs, are required to be fully tested. Their configurabilitymay be advantageous since multiple designs may be programmed into eachpart of the programmable circuit until each possible operation has beentested. The cost this imposes, however, is the time required to load thedifferent “test designs” into each part, as well as the test vectors andtest responses that may be needed. It may be advantageous to perform themost discriminating tests first to detect a bad part as early aspossible, and in particular to detect it before other time-expensiveoperations are performed on the part. Besides testing, anothertime-expensive operation is packaging the part. Consequently,accelerating test as much as possible on an unpackaged part may bedesirable. One way to test an unpackaged part may be before the waferhas been diced into separate die. Testing at this step is called “wafertest” and involves applying a set of probes to each die location on thewafer. In order to increase the data rate during this step and decreasetest time and cost, it may be desirable to support as many probes aspossible (and with the highest data rate possible).

Such an arrangement as described above and illustrated in FIG. 7 isadvantageously implemented in a sectorized programmable circuit 700since each local controller 704, 706, and 708 may become a natural placeto inject data. A non-sectorized programmable circuit or FPGA mayrequire data to flow through the global controller. But in a sectorizedprogrammable circuit or FPGA the array of local controllers can acceptdata in parallel and pass it along to their sectors. Each localcontroller may accept its own data in a number of ways. In certainembodiments, the data may be applied through nearby I/O pins, whosebonding pads may be contacted by the probes (e.g., as illustrated withrespect to local controller 706). Some of these I/O pins may not bebonded (i.e., left unconnected) depending on the packaging option laterselected for the part, such that the connections need only be madeduring wafer test. Alternatively, probe pads may be added to the localcontrollers, specifically and only for wafer-test (e.g., as illustratedwith respect to local controller 708). The local controllers may alsoaccept configuration data in parallel as broadcast from the globalcontroller. This may allow identical sectors to be simultaneouslyconfigured with the same test design. As another alternative,connections may be included between high-speed serialized transceivers(e.g., operating at 28 Gb/s) and the nearest local controllers totransfer data at extremely high data rates, as limited by the testequipment (e.g., as illustrated with respect to local controller 702).

FIG. 8 depicts an illustrative embodiment of programmable circuit 800showing inter-sector communication between sectors 806. Each localcontroller 804 communicates with global controller 802. Globalcontroller 802 coordinates their operations and conveys commandsinitiated from outside the device. In order to support thiscommunication, there may be a network of connections between the globalcontroller and each sector's local controller. This network may beimplemented in a number of ways and also be put to other uses besidesthis basic communication. In certain embodiments, the sectors may beadjoined and surrounded by blocks of other types, such as I/O-orientedblocks. The sectors may have rows or columns of I/O-oriented blocks 808and 810 distributed throughout as shown in FIG. 8. In certainembodiments, not only the inter-controller communication wires areplaced in between sector rows and columns, but some of these wires alsoappear inside the I/O-oriented columns or rows. This arrangement maysave space and provide other advantages as well. In other embodiments,these wires may flow through the sectors themselves, especially atplaces where the sectors contain objects in common (such as the ARand/or DR) which remain in the same location in all sectors.

Design connections to and from I/O blocks typically need to be longerthan connections in general. As such, there may be a greater demand forlonger wires near I/O blocks. This demand may be at least partially metby providing extra general wires along the I/O blocks. Thisimplementation may be merged with the inter-sector communication wiresthat have been partially pushed inside the I/O columns or rows. Duringconfiguration, or other non-design operations, the wires may be used toconvey information between the controllers (global and/or local). Duringdesign operations, these wires may be used to connect I/O pins to thecore of the design.

FIG. 9 depicts an illustrative embodiment of programmable circuit 900having a mesh-based network-on-chip (NoC) between sectors 906 andI/O-oriented blocks 908 and 910. Each local controller 904 communicateswith global controller 902. Global controller 902 coordinates theiroperations and conveys commands initiated from outside the device. Inthis arrangement, the inter-sector, controller-to-controllercommunication network 912 is available in general to the user designafter it has been configured into the part. Further information onNetworks-on-Chip and FPGAs can be found in commonly-owned U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2014/0126572, “Programmable Logic Devicewith Integrated Network-on-Chip,” which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety. The NoC may carry moderate-bandwidth commandand status traffic. Since the inter-sector communication network maystill be used for its original, non-user functions while the user designis running, the fraction of its bandwidth allocated to user datatransfer may be limited. It may also be possible, however, toover-provision this NoC such that a much higher amount of user data maybe sent through it.

FIG. 10 depicts an illustrative embodiment of sector 1000 havingcircuitry 1002 for detecting and correcting single-event upsets (SEUs).In a conventional FPGA, the CRAM array may be continuously read back anda CRC applied to the datastream in order to detect if the bits havechanged due to an SEU (as illustrated with respect to FIG. 5). Animprovement on this approach may be to include a CRC calculator in themiddle of each column as shown in FIG. 10 for detecting SEUs in inputdata 1004 and outputting corrected data 1006. This CRC calculator may beimplemented using a shift bit block 1008, sense-drive block 1010, shiftregister 1012, and comparator 1014. This may allow CRCs for each columnto be computed in parallel, vastly speeding up the detect process. Indevices which support partial reconfiguration, the local controller mayalso solve for the flipped bit and apply a scrubbed bitstream back tothe sector via partial reconfiguration, thereby supporting parallelscrubbing across the sectors. In a sectorized FPGA, this arrangement maybe applied within each sector. The CRC calculator may appear in eachsector-sized fragment of the previously-chip-tall column, furtherincreasing the parallelism. As a further advantage to parallel CRCcomputation, the localization of the CRC computation reduces the totaldistance travelled by the configuration to the data register (hence, thecapacitance and power consumption), allows for direct computation of thelocation of the error (localized to the sector), and allows forscrubbing to occur at the local level, further reducing data transportand power consumption.

There may be additional benefits to sectorized SEU mitigation. In manysystems, certain portions of the design are more critical than others.Though an SEU is equally likely in equally sized areas, it has greatersystem impact when it occurs in these portions. For example, in awireline bridge an error in the control-plane logic may cause erroneousclassification and processing of all packets or latching of incorrectrouter configuration, while an error in the data payload may result in atransient error to a packet that is caught by a higher-level protocolsuch as a later CRC check. In certain embodiments, sectors includeconfiguration storage (either CRAM or transient registers) whichcontains a priority setting, e.g., k storage elements indicate 2^(k)levels of priority of an error within the current sector. The output ofthe error-detect-CRC circuit for the sector may act as an interrupt tothe global controller, which may signal to the external monitor. In oneexample, an empty sector which observes a soft-error in its CRC isassigned a priority of zero. This results in the error being permanentlymasked through the scrubbing process and does not cause a system reset.In certain embodiments, the CRC output wire is changed to a set of k+moutput wires such that the priority and location of the error isindicated back to the global controller, where 2^(k) priorities and2^(m) sector IDs are indicated.

Because some types of configuration errors may indicate un-recoverableerror states or dangerous or safety-critical error states, it may bedesirable to create a direct connection between detected errors of aspecific priority and signals that can be processed either by the globalcontroller or other logic on the device. In certain embodiments, thepriority level of the most recent SEU event is exported from the globalcontroller to user logic, an on-chip embedded processor, or as anexposed pin to user hardware implemented in the FPGA for processing.This may allow a fast reset or halt of FPGA operation without therequirement for error classification by an external processor monitoringthe FPGA.

In certain embodiments, the independence of operation across sectors mayprovide multiple benefits. First, it may be desired to decrease theparallelism and thus the power devoted to SEU mitigation. This may beachieved by decreasing the number of sectors performing CRC checks atany one time and have the subset of sectors actively performing checksrotate through the full set of all sectors over time. Due to theparallelism provided by the multiple sector CRC engines, it may bepossible for a small sector to execute CRC computations at a very fastrate, e.g., at 1000 times the rate at which a current FPGA could do so.However, it may not be desirable for power consumption reasons toperform this computation in all sectors, as this would multiply the basepower by a proportional amount. In certain embodiments, urgencypriorities may be used to schedule the execution of CRC engines to bemore or less often. Sectors may include a CRAM or other mode storagedesignated to indicate the speed at which the local controller shouldperform CRC calculations, and only the sectors designated as criticalare checked at the fast clock-speed while low-priority sectors arechecked less often. The priority bits that indicate the frequency of CRCchecks may or may not be the same bits as are used for the reportingpriority of errors described above.

Next, it may be desired to disable SEU mitigation in a specific subsetof sectors while some other operation is performed, e.g., partialreconfiguration. This may allow SEU mitigation to proceed in that partof the device not undergoing reconfiguration, which is not possible in aconventional, non-sectorized FPGA. Furthermore, the characteristics ofthe user design may dictate that certain sectors' contents are moreimpacted by SEUs and need to be more frequently checked than others. Ina sectorized approach, the local controllers may be designed and/orconfigured (or put in a mode) such that they check some sectors morefrequently than others. As a result, the power devoted to SEU mitigationwould be used where it most matters.

It should be noted that though CRC calculation has been used in examplesin the foregoing, the same arrangements and design structures applyregardless of whether which one of the following is used: a CRC with a“good-bad” output, a code with a syndrome output uniquely identifying asingle-bit error, or an ECC code from which the correct data to bewritten back can be deduced.

In certain embodiments, assembling a programmable circuit or an FPGAfrom sectors provides more regularity in the logic surface. It may bepossible in the accompanying design software, e.g., to maintain muchsmaller databases describing each sector instead of a larger singledatabase describing the entire chip surface. With the addition ofphysical priorities, new capabilities may be indicated for softwarephysical design and placement. Several software mechanisms exist in theprior art for tagging critical entities or signals in an HDL design tobe implemented on an FPGA. In certain embodiments, hierarchy taggingdefines priority with EDA software (e.g., the QUARTUS® softwarecurrently sold by Altera Corporation of San Jose, Calif. or othersynthesis, placement, routing to bitstream conversion software) and thenthe locality of high-priority entities is locally placed according tochoices in the configuration of the software, and sectors are assignedthe correct priority into storage cells (CRAM or register). In certainembodiments, high-priority sectors are designated during placement andthen high-priority logic is restricted to those sectors of the device toenable fast reporting and error recovery while kept away fromlow-priority logic to enable the above enhancements to

SEU detection. Similarly, tools may be provided with the option topreferentially generate empty sectors when the device is not full, thusallowing for a larger number of sectors to be set at low priority forCRC and improving EDCRC performance.

In certain embodiments, the configuration network may transmitinstructions to the local controller in a sector to temporarily disableits CRC check or perform other functions. Such instructions may include,but are not limited to, “Halt CRC,” “Re-start CRC,” “Change sectorpriority,” “Change sector CRC frequency,” “Reset the sectorconfiguration to benign (i.e. all-zero) state,” “Update other state datastored in the configuration-node,” “Prepare to acceptpartial-reconfiguration stream of length n (followed by stream),” “Setsector to alternate power (vdd or back-bias) state,” “Modify a specifiedconfiguration bit or set of bits by AND/OR'ing them into the existingbitstream frame,” and other suitable power commands arising under thepresent disclosure. Configuration commands may take an exemplary formatof <Sector_ID>,<OPCODE>,<OPERAND>. In certain embodiments, theseinstructions may be complex and may pass a configuration address and newvalue, allowing the local controller to make a specific change to theconfiguration of the sector, instead of processing an entire frame ofconfiguration data. This may allow bitstream updates of certain types tobe dramatically smaller.

This mechanism may be used for multiple applications. For example, adesign may be set to provide two small memories with different ROMcontents for driving the input of a DSP block (as a coefficient memory).Rather than multiplexing between the two ROM contents, the localcontroller may make a small configuration change to flip the inputs tothe routing driving the DSP block to change to the alternate memory.This allows a rare event such as a coefficient ROM update to not resultin a propagation delay through a LUT resource in the device and overtime allows a ROM to be re-written with new contents without therequirement to reserve permanent FPGA routing resources. In anotherexample, ROM contents that dynamically configure the operation of adevice in rarely changing state may be “poked” to new values by thelocal controller via such instructions. This reduces the unnecessary useof fabric interconnect to route constants that indicate state.

In certain embodiments, global and local controllers may take an activerole in the functionality of the design, such as propagating state froman applications processor to sets of local controllers. In certainembodiments, these commands may take the form of broadcast commands. Forexample, the global controller may execute a set of instructions of theform, “All sectors of type P, prepare for a new bitstream as a partialreconfiguration and freeze,” “Broadcast a new bitstream to eachsectors,” “Un-freeze logic,” and other suitable instructions. Accordingto this mechanism, a compressed version of a specific maintenancebitstream, e.g., a simple ring-oscillator for testing performance of thesector, may be applied to each sector of a given type in parallel usingonly a single sector instance while not requiring external storage ofthe entire chip bitstream.

In certain embodiments, the local controller in a sector may acceptrouted inputs from user logic which is then transferred over theconfiguration network to either the global controller or an embeddedprocessor. This may allow for low-incidence error states to bepropagated from individual locations in the design, thereby reducing theburden of the standard fabric for signals which are extremely rare. Tofacilitate the preceding mechanism, a MegaFunction may be provided. AMegaFunction is a design component, usually delivered in a library ofother design components, provided by an FPGA manufacturer to be used bytheir customers when designing with FPGAs. MegaFunctions become part ofthe input to the mapping software used to convert a customer's design toa specific set of resources and interconnections inside the FPGA. TheMegaFunction may become one large resource, many small resources, or anycombination thereof, in the target FPGA. In some embodiments, aMegaFunction is highly parameterized, and accompanying software may besupplied to specify the parameters from a smaller set more easilyunderstood by a designer. This may allow a configuration input port tobe instantiated into a user design. A design tool such as the QUARTUS®software (currently sold by Altera Corporation of San Jose, Calif.) maycreate the placeable object for the configuration input port, place iton a sector's local controller as part of place and route, and provide amechanism to register the sector ID of the block chosen by the softwarefor the applications embedded processor. This may result in a globalinterrupt executed out of band over the configuration network.

Programmable circuits or FPGAs may include several kinds ofdebug-related features. In certain embodiments, sectorizing aprogrammable circuit may support and strengthen some of these featuresin a number of ways, principally through the independence of the sectorsand the inclusion of an inter-sector communications network. Theindependence of the sectors may result in shorter scan chains andshallower multiplexer networks since they will be contained entirelywithin one smaller sector. The inter-sector communication network may bevaluable for providing debug functions. The user design need not belater modified, recompiled, and reconfigured in order to include debugconnections since the communication network can be used to provide themat least at an inter-sector level. Even if one sector may have its logicaltered in order to include extra local debug connections, this would bea local change that can be brought about using partial reconfiguration.Additionally, each sector's local controller may have new debug modebehaviors dynamically loaded into it. For example, it may be desired tomonitor a set of wires in one mode, a different set of wires in anothermode, and so on, for several modes. The local controller's controlprogram may be dynamically extended to perform this function, whichwould allow the set of wires monitored at some point in time to be muchlarger than the number of bits actually sent out from the sector forexternal monitoring and interpretation.

With regard to power control, sectors may form natural boundaries forpower islands. The purpose of a power island is to allow the voltage,and hence the power consumed, to be lowered in those subparts of thedesign that do not need the extra performance that a higher voltagewould offer. In some cases, it may be possible and desirable to fully“cut-off” the power in an entire island. A power island may simply haveits own voltage supply or it may use a common voltage supply that firstflows through a power switch or regulator. In either case, if thevoltage differences between islands can be large enough, then leveltranslators need to be inserted into all signal paths that cross powerislands.

The use of sector boundaries as boundaries of power islands may bemanaged automatically by design software, such as the QUARTUS® software(currently sold by Altera Corporation of San Jose, Calif.), but it mayalso be possible to manage these relationships manually using afloor-planning step in the software. In particular, it may be desirableto force certain design sections to either be inside, or outside, ofcertain regions of sectors under a particular power control regime. Asillustrated by programmable circuit 1100 depicted in FIG. 11, eachsector 1102 forms a connected region supplied by its own power pins1108. Each sector 1102 includes local controller 1104 which may includea power switch and/or regulator or control circuitry to determine thevoltage supplied to the sector's user logic via control connections1106. In addition to new power features, existing power features may bedirectly understood by the local controller. For example, CRAM settingsin STRATIX® V family of devices (currently sold by Altera Corp. of SanJose, Calif.) and other programmable devices may set level translators1110 for user signals flowing between sectors at different voltages. TheCRAM settings may set individual logic array blocks (LABs) intodifferent back-bias states, enabling high-speed or low-power operation.These state values may be moved to local controller 1104 and modifieddynamically.

In certain embodiments, programmable circuits such as FPGAs need todistribute clocks sourced from I/O pins and/or PLLs throughout the corelogic. The inclusion of sectors in the clock distribution architectureallows it to be broken into two components: inter-sector clockdistribution and then intra-sector clock distribution. The former isaddressed in commonly-owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/137,086,“Clock Grid for Integrated Circuit,” which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety. The latter is a conventional, albeit muchsmaller, clock distribution problem.

The independence of the sectors and local controllers may allow eachsector to use a different clock during configuration or otheroperations. In a sectorized FPGA, different clock sources, such as aring oscillator inside the FPGA or clocks supplied from outside, may beused during conventional full-chip configuration. However,sector-specific clocks may be extremely useful during partialreconfiguration, especially if that partial reconfiguration is happeningunder the control of another (unchanging) part of the FPGA design and/orthere are multiple regions that may undergo partial reconfigurationsimultaneously. The independent clocks may allow the differentoperations to be completely independent and even operate at differentfrequencies if desired.

FIG. 12 illustrates a circuit or other device 1210 that includesembodiments of a basic block module (e.g., of MACs), implemented using adata flow graph, which makes use of a programmable circuit havingsectors as being within a data processing system 1200. In certainembodiments, integrated circuit or device 1210 may be an integratedcircuit, application specific standard product (ASSP), applicationspecific integrated circuit (ASIC), programmable logic device (PLD),including a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), full-custom chip, ordedicated chip). In certain embodiments, element 1210 may includeprogrammable circuit 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, and/or 1100. Dataprocessing system 1200 may include one or more of the followingcomponents: circuit 1210, processor 1212, memory 1214, I/O circuitry1208, and peripheral devices 1206. These components are connectedtogether by a system bus or other interconnections 1216 and arepopulated on circuit board 1204 which is contained in end-user system1202.

System 1200 may be used in a wide variety of applications, such ascomputer networking, data networking, instrumentation, video processing,digital signal processing, or any other application where the advantageof using programmable or reprogrammable logic is desirable. Circuit 1210may be used to perform a variety of different logic functions. Forexample, circuit 1210 may be configured as a processor or controllerthat works in cooperation with processor 1212. Circuit 1210 may also beused as an arbiter for arbitrating access to a shared resource in system1200. In yet another example, circuit 1210 can be configured as aninterface between processor 1212 and one of the other components insystem 1200. It should be noted that system 1200 is only exemplary, andthat the true scope and spirit of the invention should be indicated bythe following claims.

Although components in the above disclosure are described as beingconnected with one another, they may instead be connected to oneanother, possibly via other components in between them. It will beunderstood that the foregoing are only illustrative of the principles ofthe invention, and that various modifications can be made by thoseskilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of theinvention. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the presentinvention can be practiced by other than the described embodiments,which are presented for purposes of illustration and not of limitation,and the present invention is limited only by the claims that follow.

The embodiments shown in this disclosure may save power and area, and inso doing, may also increase performance. Although these quantities maybe easy to measure, the individual contributions of particular circuitrywithin the embodiments shown in this disclosure may be difficult toseparate from contributions of other circuitry on any device or chip onwhich the circuitry are implemented.

Interactive interface applications and/or any instructions for layout ofor use of the circuit designs of any of the embodiments described hereinmay be encoded on computer readable media. Computer readable mediaincludes any media capable of storing data. The computer readable mediamay be transitory, including, but not limited to, propagating electricalor electromagnetic signals, or may be non-transitory including, but notlimited to, volatile and non-volatile computer memory or storage devicessuch as a hard disk, floppy disk, USB drive, DVD, CD, media cards,register memory, processor caches, Random Access Memory (“RAM”), etc.

FIG. 13 depicts illustrative process 1300 by which a sectorizedprogrammable circuit is configured for operation. Process 1300 may beimplemented by a programmable logic device, such as data processingsystem 1200 of FIG. 12. The process begins at step 1302. At step 1304,local control circuitry for each sector interfaces with itsconfigurations bits to configure the sector. At step 1306, the globalcontrol circuitry interfaces with respective local control circuitry toconfigure the sector. Once the sector is configured, the process ends atstep 1308.

FIG. 14 depicts illustrative process 1400 by which a local controller ina sectorized programmable circuit detects and corrects SEUs. Process1400 may be implemented by a programmable logic device, such as dataprocessing system 1200 of FIG. 12. The process begins at step 1402. Atstep 1404, local control circuitry retrieves data stored in aconfiguration bit. At step 1406, the local control circuitry detectswhether the data for the configuration bit has changed due to asingle-event upset. If not, local control circuitry proceeds to step1412. If so, at step 1408, local control circuitry determines thecorrected data for the configuration bit. This is further described withrespect to FIG. 4 and FIG. 10. At step 1410, local control circuitrytransmits the corrected data for the configuration bit. At step 1412,local control circuitry determines if more configuration bits remain tobe analyzed. If so, local control circuitry proceeds to step 1404. Oncethe configuration bits have been analyzed, the process ends at step1414.

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIG. 13 and FIG. 14may be used with any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition,the steps and descriptions described in relation to FIG. 13 and FIG. 14may be done in alternative orders or in parallel to further the purposesof this disclosure. For example, each of these steps may be performed inany order or in parallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lagor increase the speed of the system or method. Furthermore, it should benoted that any suitable device, such as those associated with dataprocessing system 1200 as discussed in relation to FIG. 12, could beused to perform one of more of the steps in FIG. 13 and FIG. 14.

It will be understood that the foregoing uses of the terms “programmablecircuit” and “FPGA” are exemplary, and such use may be applicable toprogrammable logic devices and other suitable circuits, including butnot limited to commercial FPGAs, configurable ASSP devices, configurableDSP and GPU devices, hybrid ASIC/programmable devices, devices which aredescribed as ASICs with programmable logic cores, or programmable logicdevices with embedded ASIC or ASSP cores.

It will be understood that the foregoing is only illustrative of theprinciples of the invention, and that various modifications may be madeby those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spiritof the invention, and the present invention is limited only by theclaims that follow. For example, the various inventive aspects that havebeen discussed herein can either all be used together in certainembodiments, or other embodiments may employ only one or more (but lessthan all) of the inventive aspects. And if multiple (but less than all)of the inventive aspects are employed, that can involve employment ofany combination of the inventive aspects. As another example of possiblemodifications, throughout this disclosure, particular parameter valuesare mentioned. These particular values are only examples, and othersuitable parameter values can be used instead if desired.

What is claimed is:
 1. A programmable circuit comprising: a plurality ofsectors, wherein each sector comprises: at least one configurablefunctional block; a plurality of configurable routing wires; at leastone configuration bit for storing configurations for the at least oneconfigurable functional block and the plurality of configurable routingwires; and local control circuitry for interfacing with the at least oneconfiguration bit to configure the sector; and global control circuitryfor interfacing with respective local control circuitry for each sectorof the plurality of sectors to configure the sector.
 2. The programmablecircuit of claim 1, wherein the global control circuitry is furtherconfigured for: transmitting one or more global signals to respectivelocal control circuitry for each sector of the plurality of sectors,wherein the one or more global signals are hidden from a user and relateto at least one of a configuration mode, a test mode, and a clockingmode for each sector.
 3. The programmable circuit of claim 1, whereineach sector further comprises: a power supply; and power controlcircuitry in communication with the local control circuitry.
 4. Theprogrammable circuit of claim 1, wherein the local control circuitry foreach sector is further configured for: retrieving data stored in the atleast one configuration bit; detecting whether the stored data haschanged due to a single-event upset; and in response to detecting thatthe stored data has changed, transmitting corrected data for the atleast one configuration bit.
 5. The programmable circuit of claim 1,wherein at least one of the local control circuitry and the globalcontrol circuitry is further configured for: configuring a first sectorof the plurality of sectors such that the first sector is differentlysized from a second sector of the plurality of sectors.
 6. Theprogrammable circuit of claim 1, wherein at least one of the localcontrol circuitry and the global control circuitry is further configuredfor: configuring a first portion of the sector such that the firstportion is sized the same as a second portion of the sector; anddesignating the first portion as a redundancy region for the secondportion.
 7. The programmable circuit of claim 1, wherein the localcontrol circuitry for each sector includes at least one of a statemachine and a stored-program processor.
 8. A method for operating aprogrammable circuit comprising global control circuitry and a pluralityof sectors, each sector comprising at least one configurable functionalblock, a plurality of configurable routing wires, at least oneconfiguration bit for storing configurations for the at least oneconfigurable functional block and the plurality of configurable routingwires, and local control circuitry, the method comprising: interfacing,using the local control circuitry, with the at least one configurationbit to configure the sector; and interfacing, using the global controlcircuitry, with respective local control circuitry for each sector ofthe plurality of sectors to configure the sector.
 9. The method of claim8, further comprising: transmitting, using the global control circuitry,one or more global signals to respective local control circuitry foreach sector of the plurality of sectors, wherein the one or more globalsignals are hidden from a user and relate to at least one of aconfiguration mode, a test mode, and a clocking mode for each sector.10. The method of claim 8, wherein each sector further comprises a powersupply and power control circuitry in communication with the localcontrol circuitry.
 11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:retrieving, using the local control circuitry, data stored in the atleast one configuration bit; detecting, using the local controlcircuitry, whether the stored data has changed due to a single-eventupset; and in response to detecting that the stored data has changed,transmitting, using the local control circuitry, corrected data for theat least one configuration bit.
 12. The method of claim 8, furthercomprising: configuring, using at least one of the local controlcircuitry and the global control circuitry, a first sector of theplurality of sectors such that the first sector is differently sizedfrom a second sector of the plurality of sectors.
 13. The method ofclaim 8, further comprising: configuring, using at least one of thelocal control circuitry and the global control circuitry, a firstportion of the sector such that the first portion is sized the same as asecond portion of the sector; and designating the first portion as aredundancy region for the second portion.
 14. The method of claim 8,wherein the local control circuitry for each sector includes at leastone of a state machine and a stored-program processor.
 15. Aprogrammable circuit comprising: a plurality of sectors, wherein eachsector comprises: at least one configurable functional block; aplurality of configurable routing wires; configurations for the at leastone configurable functional block and the plurality of configurablerouting wires; and wherein each sector is at least one of independentlyoperable and operable in parallel with other sectors.
 16. Theprogrammable circuit of claim 15, wherein each sector further comprises:a power supply; and power control circuitry in communication with thelocal control circuitry.
 17. The programmable circuit of claim 15,wherein the local control circuitry for each sector is furtherconfigured for: retrieving data stored in the at least one configurationbit; detecting whether the stored data has changed due to a single-eventupset; and in response to detecting that the stored data has changed,transmitting corrected data for the at least one configuration bit. 18.The programmable circuit of claim 15, wherein the local controlcircuitry is further configured for: configuring a first sector of theplurality of sectors such that the first sector is differently sizedfrom a second sector of the plurality of sectors.
 19. The programmablecircuit of claim 15, wherein the local control circuitry is furtherconfigured for: configuring a first portion of the sector such that thefirst portion is sized the same as a second portion of the sector; anddesignating the first portion as a redundancy region for the secondportion.
 20. The programmable circuit of claim 15, wherein the localcontrol circuitry for each sector includes at least one of a statemachine and a stored-program processor.